Host Clive Myrie Reveals What to Expect

Mastermind is back this September in a new series that marks 50 years of the nation’s sharpest minds competing in a tournament for the ultimate quizzing honour of being crowned Mastermind Champion.

Hosted by BBC journalist and presenter Clive Myrie since 2021, the new series of Mastermind will see 96 contenders follow the tried and tested formula of facing two minutes of questions on their specialist subject, followed by two and a half minutes on general knowledge.

Q&A with Mastermind host Clive Myrie

What can we expect in this series of Mastermind?

More wonderful contenders gunning for the ultimate quizzing prize. Specialist subjects that will delight, amaze and frankly baffle some, which is exactly how it should be. From Shakespeare’s comedies to Killing Eve, British brutalist architecture to the works of Banksy.

Any stand-out stories you can share?

There is one fabulous contender who last appeared on the show when Magnus Magnusson was presenting! What a treat in Mastermind’s 50th year.

How are you enjoying being the host of a programme that’s lasted 50 years?

I love it! It was an amazing opportunity that came my way and it’s a privilege to be one of just a handful of presenters who’ve helmed the show in half a century.

What remains the hardest part of the job?

Being firm and no nonsense – I am billed as the ‘interrogator’ after all – but at the same time I’m willing on every contender to do their best and win. I hope they can at least feel that, as I fire questions at them like bullets from a machine gun!

How difficult it was to adjust back to more light-hearted roles such as Mastermind filming after your intense time in Ukraine at the beginning of the year?

Not difficult at all. I’m a good compartmentaliser.

What has been the most memorable specialist subject for you across the series so far since you’ve been the host?

Having to brave Welsh language pronunciations with the Rebecca Riots as a specialist subject. It was a rural peasant uprising in 19th century Wales. That I will never forget!!

The show is celebrating its 50th anniversary, why do you think it remains popular with audiences across decades? Why do you think people love the programme so much?

Its enduring appeal is down to its simplicity; a test of knowledge against the clock. It is still Britain’s toughest quiz, thoroughly entertaining. Having said that the format itself is an interrogation. You’re seeing someone under the spotlight, being grilled for a certain amount of time as the clock ticks down on what they know, and that can be thrilling, but it can be uplifting as well.”

Mastermind Facts

• Alice Walker (2022), aged 66, with the specialist subject The Peak District is the oldest ever female Mastermind champion.
• The first ever Mastermind champion was Nancy Wilkinson (1972) with specialist subjects of French Literature, European Antiques and the History of Music between 1550-1900. · The youngest champion is Jonathan Gibson (2021), aged 24, with the specialist subject of comedy songwriting duo Flanders and Swann.
• Mastermind was inspired by creator Bill Wright’s experience as a prisoner of war in the Second World War. His interrogators repeatedly asked him three questions – name, rank and number – which inspired the idea of asking contenders their name, occupation and Specialist Subject.
• The Mastermind chair was kidnapped twice in the late 1970s – students held the chair to ransom for £50, to be paid by the BBC to a chosen charity.
• Tom Hanks is reportedly a fan of Mastermind. He first watched it when filming ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and called it ‘The discovery of my time in the UK’.
• Famous people, films, TV series and music bands are popular topics on the show. Some of these ‘subjects’ didn’t resist the temptation to test how well they know themselves after seeing the topic on the show. Louis Theroux attempted to answer all questions on the subject of ‘Louis Theroux Documentaries’ and actor and comedy writer Nick Frost attempted to answer round about ‘Cornetto Trilogy’.
• In the very first series of Mastermind in 1972, all of the finalists were women, leading people to speculate whether a man could ever win the show.
• The famous glass trophy has been made by the same man since 1972, Scottish glass sculptor Denis Mann from Wick.
• The Mastermind theme tune is called Approaching Menace by Neil Richardson and Bill Wright found it in the BBC Gramophone Library. Neil Richardson is a well-known composer, conductor and arranger – he later wrote some of the music and conducted the score for the Richard Curtis film, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’.
• “I’ve started so I’ll finish” – is the catchphrase that became synonymous with Mastermind, right from the first series, and made it into the Bloomsbury Dictionary of Popular Phrase: ‘In BBC TV’s quiz Mastermind, the chairman Magnus Magnusson would say this if one of his questions was interrupted when the time ran out. It became a figure of speech – sometimes also given a double meaning.’
• Sir David Attenborough presented the first ever champion Nancy Wilkinson with her trophy in 1972. He was Director of Programmes at BBC at the time.